The Anaheim Ducks could have nearly a quarter of their cap room tied up in recently re-signed Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry. That's going to force GM Bob Murray, reluctantly, to go with cheaper, younger players to meet the lower cap. (Reuters)

MIKE ZEISBERGER, QMI Agency

Is the National Hockey League’s middle class about to feel a financial pinch under the new collective bargaining agreement?

When that question was posed to Bob Murray during the NHL’s general managers meetings at the league’s Toronto offices on Wednesday, the Anaheim Ducks GM was quick to respond with a resounding: “Yes.

“Let’s just say you’ve got to have good young players,” Murray said.

The translation: Good young players means good cheap players.

Murray would know.

In the past three weeks, he has shelled out $135 million of owners’ Henry and Susan Samueli’s money to retain stars Ryan Getzlaf (eight years, $66 million) and Corey Perry (eight years, $69 million). With the 2013-14 salary cap expected to go down to $64.3 million, the Ducks will have almost a quarter of the cap gobbled up by those two players next season.

If teams opt to ink their top-end players to such whopping deals, the only way they’ll be able to flourish on the ic